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The April murders at Columbine High School were easily attributed to, among other things, a National Rifle Association-supported loophole in the law exempting firearms purchasers at gun shows from background checks. Guns used in that shooting, which left 15 dead, were purchased at a Colorado gun show, where little more than cash on hand is necessary to buy a gun.

Legislative remedies to prevent tragedies like the Atlanta shooting were not as quick to spot. "There still may not be any way from preventing something like this from happening," Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said in an interview with Salon News. "But this should prompt us to do something on the federal level." Law enforcement, he said, "should at least know the people with guns, know their history, know their problems, know if they have mental problems, know if they've been suspects in other crimes -- like this man, who was suspected of killing his last wife and her mother."

Still, gun control advocates like Lewis felt the need to do something after Thursday's killings. At the very least, Lewis said, "It must remind us once again that we must do something. We can pray for the victims, we can mourn the dead, but in the end we must act."

Coincidentally, Friday morning the House voted on its conferees for the House-Senate Conference Committee meeting on the Juvenile Justice Bill -- the main vehicle for gun control proposals in this year's Congress. According to a House leadership aide, the conferees were instructed to figure out a way to prevent criminals from purchasing firearms at gun shows -- though not to comprehensively close the gun-show loophole.

As indicative of how tough it is for pro-gun control legislators to accomplish anything in the existing Congress, it was apparently necessary to instruct the conferees to refrain from weakening any existing gun laws.

When asked if there were anything Congress could do to prevent such tragedies from occurring, John Czwartacki, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, said that "this is the problem with a democratic society. There are laws on the books, and you gotta enforce them, but when you have a suicidal psychotic, there's not much government can do." Czwartacki further observed that progress had finally been made on the Juvenile Justice Bill as the Senate -- which had been held up by the actions of Sen. Bob Smith, I-N.H., was able to appoint its conferees for the Juvenile Justice bill on Wednesday.

John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said, "Its obviously tragic. You have these nutcases doing this stuff and it makes you wonder about your own security. I mean, anyone who kills his own kids is a sicko." When asked if there were anything Congress could do to prevent further incidents, Feehery said, "You could outlaw sickos, but I'm not sure if you can do that. Unless you have everyone carry a gun."

Feehery experienced a similar incident one year ago this month, on July 24, 1998, when he worked for Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and a paranoid schizophrenic named Russell Weston Jr. burst into the office with a revolver. "When a sicko came into our office, we had someone to protect us," Feehery said, referring to Officer John Gibson, one of two Capitol Hill police officers to lose his life in Weston's attack. "Unfortunately, the people in these offices in Atlanta had no one to protect them. It makes you scratch your head. You want to be protected from these kinds of characters, but I don't know what the answer is."

Police announced Friday that the 9 mm Glock pistol Barton used was purchased legally in 1993. Police added that the .45-caliber Colt handgun he also used for his slaughter was an older model, and somewhat harder to trace.

But regardless, there apparently was no reason for Barton to be denied the right to buy any gun. Even though Barton was a suspect in the Labor Day 1993 murders of his first wife, Deborah Spivey Barton, 36, and her mother, Eloise Powell Spivey, 59, the police were never able to amass enough evidence to indict him. Thus, with no criminal record, Barton should have had no problem legally buying a weapon; guns are as easy to get in Georgia as beer.

"He could have gone to a gun shop, he could have gone to a gun show, he could have gone to a flea market and bought a gun without even giving his name," said Lewis.

Further, Georgia has especially lax gun laws, permitting almost all non-felons to carry concealed weapons if they so choose, with little law enforcement say in the matter. It is not yet known if Barton had a concealed weapon license, but there is little reason to believe that he would have been denied such a license.

Next page | Can't take a gun from a ticking time bomb